Certain textile processes pneumatically convey tufts of textile fiber from point to point as the fiber moves through certain processes. For example, textile fiber received in compacted bales may be plucked from the bales, opened, and delivered to cards for formation into fiber bats all while being moved through the use of flowing streams of air. Such processes of using flowing streams of air to move tufts of textile fiber are referred to as pneumatically conveying textile fiber tufts.
Certain textile fibers received at a textile mill in compacted bales, and particularly cotton, contain impurities or debris which may take the form of stalks, husk residues, portions of leaves or the like. Persons familiar with the handling and processing of textile fiber as briefly described above, and particularly the plucking, opening and feeding of cotton fiber tufts, will be familiar with the presence of such debris and the difficulties which are introduced thereby into the manufacturing processes and the finished textile products.
It has been proposed heretofore that debris and the like may be removed from pneumatically conveyed textile fiber tufts. One such proposal has involved diverting a flowing stream of air and tufts conveyed thereby such as by directing the flow along a curving path. Due to the anticipated effect of centrifugal forces and the curvature of the path, it is anticipated that debris, being heavier than the textile fiber tufts, will be directed to the outer area of a curving portion of a path in a conduit or the like. The debris may then be removed from the path in some appropriate manner. In at least one known prior arrangement, a screen or grid may be installed in a conveying conduit in such a manner that a portion of the flowing air stream, possibly containing debris, is diverted and directed into an exit conduit, duct or tube. In such arrangements as known heretofore, the air and debris have simply been vented, giving rise to the double deficiencies of environmental polution and loss in air flow due to dissipation of a portion of the conveying stream.